Michigan Gets Additional Listings Of Historic Places

BREITUNG TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) – The National Register of Historic Places is recognizing three individual properties and four historic districts in Michigan, including a bridge that spans the Menominee River connecting the state’s western Upper Peninsula with Wisconsin.

The State Historic Preservation Office recently announced that the Upper Twin Falls Bridge in Dickinson County’s Breitung Township, the Hanover High School Complex in Jackson County and the Grand Rapids Storage and Van Co. in Kent County are on the list.

The nomination of the Upper Twin Falls Bridge, located northwest of Iron Mountain and connecting to Dickinson County in Wisconsin, followed efforts by volunteers in Michigan as well as a previous draft nomination form prepared for the Wisconsin Historical Society.

“These old metal truss bridges have become few and far between in the last few decades, and this one survived only because it has been bypassed since the 1970s,” Robert Christensen, Michigan’s national register coordinator, said in a statement.

Historic districts new to the list include the Williamston Downtown Historic District in Ingham County, the Drake, Benjamin and Maria (Ogden) Farm in Kalamazoo County’s Oshtemo Township and the Boyne City Central Historic District in Charlevoix County.

The Center Avenue Neighborhood Historic District in Bay City also has been expanded.

“The designation … provides public recognition of their historic and architectural distinction and also opportunities for property owners to use federal historic preservation tax credits,” State Historic Preservation Officer Brian Conway said in a statement. “The preservation of historic buildings preserves community identity.”

In addition to the seven, the state said the Grand Circus Park Historic District designation in Detroit was updated to take note of buildings built or renovated after 1930 and until 1962. This change will make federal rehabilitation tax credits more widely available in the area.